


Something From a Dream

by Our_Hearts_Are_Compatible



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Nightmares, Some angst, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000, no beta reader we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-10-15 17:03:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17532731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Our_Hearts_Are_Compatible/pseuds/Our_Hearts_Are_Compatible
Summary: Levi comes across Erwin, sleeping at his desk.  When he has a nightmare, Levi has to step in and calm him.  An unexpected conversation ensues and fluff follows.





	Something From a Dream

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting in my files for months and I finally decided to post it. Hope you enjoy! It's a bit rough, so I apologize for that but I think it's a nice quick read, anyway.

Levi walked down the wide road, occasionally glancing up at the tapestries hanging from window sills; a constant reminder of what his life had come to since he agreed to join the Scout Regiment rather than die.  He slowed as he passed Erwin’s office as the door was open, backtracking when he noticed the Commander’s seemingly sleeping figure. Erwin sat at his large oak desk, with his head in his hands, breathing shallowly and steadily.  

 

“Commander?”  He tsked and glanced around, slipping into the room when he knew he wasn’t being watched.  He took a bored, annoyed tone as he spoke, shutting the door gently behind him. “Erwin, wake up,”  the urge to call him an idiot was almost overpowering but he held back when he saw Erwin’s brows furrow and watched his head fall from his hands, onto a stack papers inches thick.  Levi rolled his eyes and sat across from the man, watching him sleep. He could wait.

 

Forever.

 

Soon though, Levi stood and began to pace the room, his impatience getting the best of him.  He sighed and stepped close to the man, staring down at the man’s blonde hair, and the bolo tie which was haphazardly thrown to the side of the desk, nearly fully covered by various pieces of paper.  He reached his hands out toward Erwin’s hair stopping just before his fingers could brush against the blonde locks. He clenched his fingers tightly together and grimaced. He leaned against the desk and peered down at the large man.  “Erwin,” he snapped a finger, even whistled and still the man would not wake. He returned to pacing and covered his face with his hands, hoping that Erwin would wake up.

 

“Why am I even in here?”  It was a valid question that he was asking himself.  Erwin hadn’t invited him in, and he’d shown up unannounced.  If Erwin wanted, he could get him into trouble for it, but Levi knew that he wouldn’t.  He tapped his toes for a short while before glancing back to Erwin. He stared for awhile, watching the minute changes in the man’s facial features, watching them soften and eventually form a pleasant smile.

 

It wasn’t to last however, when Erwin’s expression rapidly changed and he began to twist and turn and writhe in his chair, papers falling from the desk left and right.  When the bolo tie was knocked off by a particularly vicious convulsion, the thud it made when it hit the floor boards caused Erwin to flinch and call for Levi. He found his voice and tried to echo the call.  “Erwin?” But the man did not wake up and Levi was sure that he had never felt so useless to the man as he did then. The cries amplified themselves in intensity and soon Levi noticed that the papers below Erwin’s eyes had tears pooling in them, ruining them.  

 

Levi felt his feet move him forward effortlessly, leading him to Erwin’s side; he shook the man and lifted his head from the desk.  “Erwin,  _ please _ , wake up,”  he hated the desperation in his voice, but when he saw Erwin’s eyes flutter open and widen in surprise and fear, he was pleased to know that his pathetic but undeniable weakness for the man had its benefits.  

 

“Levi…? Why are you-” He shook his head to cut the man off, gently letting go of his face to grab his handkerchief from his pocket.

 

“Your door was open and you fell asleep on your papers.  I was going to wait for you to wake up on your own but you had a...nightmare, so I woke you before you could ruin too many of your papers,”  he gestured down at the mess Erwin had made in his sleep induced panic and watched the man’s eyes fill with shame. “Not to mention the mess you made of yourself,”  he tenderly grabbed Erwin’s face and wiped the tears away gently, staring coldly into the man’s blue eyes. “Do you remember the nightmare at all?” Erwin nodded his head and Levi continued.  “How much of it?” 

 

Erwin seemed to shrink at that question. “All of it. It’s recurring, I’m sorry you had to-” 

 

Levi gave him no room to further explain himself, gently inquiring has he pulled the handkerchief away from Erwin’s face, “Why did you call out for me…?”  

 

Erwin’s eyes widened and he reeled back, practically throwing himself from his chair.  “Call out for you? I never-” once again Levi cut him off, squinting his eyes up at him.  

 

“You did, in fact.” Erwin glanced down and away from Levi, trying to hide his eyes from the shorter man’s piercing gaze.  “Just tell me, Erwin.” 

 

The man shook his head, “It’s foolish, you’d not like to hear of it.” Levi huffed out a sigh. 

 

“I think I would like to hear it, actually.”  

 

Erwin backed up further and put up a hand over his eyes. “Levi, please let it go.”

 

“No, Erwin, I  _ won’t _ let it go.  Tell me,” he stepped toward Erwin with three large strides and came so close that their toes touched.  He stared at Erwin’s chest and swallowed hard, swaying side to side. “ _ Tell me _ …”  His voice had dropped to a whisper and his palms started to sweat.  He furrowed his brow and glanced back toward the door and over to the window, imagining what it would be like to explain their close proximity to anyone else.

 

“You want to know?  Fine I’ll tell you.”  Levi could see that he was visibly shaking, and that tears were prickling in his eyes uncomfortably.  “Just...just don’t think any less of me for it.” At that point, Levi wasn’t sure what Erwin could possibly mean but he nodded his head dumbly and looked up to lock eyes with the taller man whose gaze was distant, but still trained down toward him.  

 

He listened to Erwin’s shaky, shallow breaths and waited.  “I  _ care _ for you,”  A pause. “ _ Far _ more than I’d like to admit.”   _ Oh. _  Levi stayed silent after that, Trying to control his heart rate which had risen exponentially with the revelation.  

 

“Erwin you-” Erwin grabbed Levi’s shoulder tightly and hissed painfully. 

 

“You said you wouldn’t think less of me, Levi.”  Levi tsked and rested his hand on Erwin’s. 

 

“And  _ you _ wouldn’t let me finish my thought.”  

 

They stared intensely at each other and Levi licked his lips.  “I was going to tell you that you don’t mean that. That you  _ can’t _ mean that.”  

 

Erwin smiled sadly at him and shook his head.  “But it seems that I mean it anyways.”

 

“Erwin-”  He felt the man grab tighter on his shoulder.  

 

“Levi if I could have stopped these feelings I would have.  But I  _ can’t _ .”  There was a pregnant silence between them before Erwin continued.  “You’ve...you’ve felt that before, haven’t you? For someone? Surely you must have.”  Levi couldn’t recall a time where they’d been so open and vulnerable in front of one another like in that moment.  

 

“You.” 

 

It spilled from his lips before he could stop it and they stood in shock together, each unsure of how to proceed.  

 

They were too close to act like there wasn’t tension, but each were too stubborn to actually admit it.  Levi began to fidget under the attention, silently cursing himself for acting how he had. His hand still rested on Erwin’s, who had since placed his free hand on Levi’s other shoulder, pushing him back slightly.  It soon roamed from his shoulder up to the crook of his neck, then to his cheek, the man’s fingers ghosting across it with a tentative caress. “Levi…” He glanced down to Levi’s lips and knit his brows together. “I’m sorry.  You should never have seen me like this.” 

 

Levi glared up at him in disbelief. “Well, I did.” He leaned forward on his toes, parting his lips slightly when he caught the scent of Erwin’s cologne.

 

He sighed in contentment and attempted a smile.  He didn’t quite notice the moment when he leaned forward enough to press his head against Erwin’s chest, only realizing it had when -- and only when -- Erwin forced Levi to look up at him, before brushing his lips against Levi’s with all the force of a light summer breeze.  When Erwin pulled back, ‘sorry’ spilled from his mouth in much the same way as blood would pour from a wound: quick and unrelenting. “Stop saying that, idiot. I’m  _ not _ sorry, so shut up and just do it again.”  

 

They kissed for a few long moments afterward, before Levi pulled back with an inquisitive look upon his face.  “Why  _ did _ you call out for me?  In the dream.” 

 

Erwin shook his head before leaning down to kiss the corner of Levi’s mouth.  “Save that question for another time...I don’t need the thought weighing down on me,” another kiss.  “Not now.  This is like something out of a dream...and I want to hold onto it.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this, come visit me on my Tumblr: [chocobro-fancy](https://chocobro-fancy.tumblr.com/)  
> ! My roleplays, requests, and commissions are open! ^_^
> 
> <3


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